I could nev. . .Happy Bir. . .*Beep!Beep!* - A Solo/Birthday Feb. '14 TR *Update: 10/25*

[RejoyceoverDisney]

Oh Neverland girl?????? Where are you???
You left me hanging and I've been patiently waiting.
I think you said you were going to rope drop next.

 

[Neverland Girl]

Oh Neverland girl?????? Where are you???
You left me hanging and I've been patiently waiting.
I think you said you were going to rope drop next.

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! There have been lots of changes going on at work and I haven't had a moment to spare in my down time to update here. However, I am on my last mini stay-cation before the holiday retail madness begins so I'm planning on doing several posts in the next few days.

 

[Neverland Girl]

Chapter 11 - Step Inside Our Storybook, Imagine What's in Store! Part 1​

Today was Magic Kingdom day!!!

Although my wake-up call came far too early at 5 am but I had a Welcome Show to catch and EMH to utilize! I laid in bed for a little while longer before getting ready for the day. While I was relaxing, I heard it raining outside. So much for taking more bows with me to the park today. Oh well!

I decided to eat at the food court again. When I got there it was pretty empty. So I pretty much had free reign of the place. It was nice being able to sit inside this morning because it was cool outside and quite damp too.

I settled on this to eat and drink. The cost was more than I really wanted it to be but then again, I really wasn't surprised by this.

These pictures were so cute! I've had days during High School marching band that felt like some of these pictures. The new style cartoons are cute and but I still like the older designs from the 1950s and 1960s. My grandmother had a bunch of VHS tapes of Disney cartoons that I would watch over and over again.

Anyways, I was at the bus stop with plenty of time to get to the gates before the Welcome Show started. My bus was full enough that I had to stand but I didn't mind. I wasn't sure if ti was all in my head or what but this bus driver seemed to be going sooooooo slow. I finally saw the monorail beams come in to sight which is usually my indicator that I'm getting close to the park. Okay, we're about 20 minutes out from the start of the show. We'll make it in time. Whew! Here comes the Contemporary. Seriously?! How is it possible for you to drive any slower?! By the time we got to the bus stop I had to power walk up to the gates. As I got to bag check, the music started playing and I couldn't see a thing. Luckily, right as Skip came out I had managed to find a spot to see from.

It seemed like they had modified it because of the rain earlier. As you can see, the skies were still pretty cloudy at this point. Despite all this, the show was amazing!!! I was covered in goosebumps and ready to get started.

I was walking right up the middle of Main Street U.S.A. and loving every moment of it. Oh and let's not forget about the beauty that is the castle.

I followed the mass of people through the tunnel and into Fantasyland. How is the line that long already? 90 minutes? This place has only been open for a few minutes.

That's fine though. I was headed in the opposite direction. Here are crowd pics from the rest of Fantasyland.

Much better! I wanted to see the new stand-by queue for Peter Pan's flight and now was a great time to do it without any waiting. Here we goooo! (Brace yourself for lots of pics!)

"Poor Nana!"

Can you imagine having this view out your bedroom window?

You can see Tink next to the mirror here. Let me just say how amazing this whole room was. The various effects that they had going on were all sorts crazy cool. Plus, you can't neat the looks on the faces of both kids and parents alike when Peter's shadow flies by or you spot Tinker Bell for the first time. None of this compares in my book though to the Pixie Dust. When I first saw that, I almost burst into tears. It is such a simple effect but it is nothing but pure Disney magic!

The ride itself was amazing as usual and went by way too fast. After my ride through Neverland, I had no plans what so ever. I made a note though that Anna and Elsa were up to a 110 minute wait and it was only 8:27 am. Yeesh!

I decided to head back out to Main Street for some Photopass pictures. (One of which I used in my intro post.)

After my quick photo shoot, I wandered over towards the tea cups.

I didn't get very far though. I had remembered that there was another Disney red head that I had wanted to meet. So I back tracked to get in line for Merida. It was also at this point that the sun decided to come out and visit. The only problem with this was that I hadn't brought my sunglasses with me because the weather man on the news this morning told me it was supposed to be overcast all day. GRR! At least I had my hat with me. I didn't get as many weird looks from the parents waiting in line with their kids as I thought I would. About 10 minutes later, we were let in to the Gardens to visit.

The girl in front of me was trying to teach Merida some sort of jig and was priceless. Merida said that she would stick to her Archery. She figured she had a better chance of not accidentally hurting someone with her bow and arrows as she would with her feet while dancing.

When it was my turn to meet her, she told me that birthdays could be dangerous. Huh? With the tradition of eating cake on birthdays, Merida said that you never know when a bear cake might sneak in. OH! I had to laugh at that one. I assured her that so far, the only cake I had was of the non-bear variety. It was great!

It was a super short meeting but oh so wonderful!

After this, I headed back to Main Street to soak up the atmosphere there. As soon as it was possible, I ducked into the Emporium. This is where I began to channel my sister. We say that she is the Magpie of our family, meaning that she always gets distracted by shiny or sparkly things. Yep, that was me. I spent a good ten minutes at least just looking at all of the Women's jackets/sweatshirts and jewelry. (This may pay off later in the day. )

Upon exiting the Emporium, I noticed the windows. Yep, those windows! I love those windows! They were especially cute when my family went in 2012. They were still depicting Mickey's Christmas Carol which has always been one of my fave movies. So this was the first time I really took notice of what the regular one's were like. Here are some of my favorite pictures from my window shoot.

There are so many little details in these windows that you could revisit them several times and probably still not notice everything.

It was now time for me to visit the other side of the street.

(Continued in the next post)

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! There have been lots of changes going on at work and I haven't had a moment to spare in my down time to update here. However, I am on my last mini stay-cation before the holiday retail madness begins so I'm planning on doing several posts in the next few days.

Well glad you showed up to give me my Disney fix. I leave for my actual vacation later this week. So nice to read some updates.
Gosh I was packed and now I'm thinking....hmmm .......I hate second guessing.
Will watch for the next post.

 

[Neverland Girl]

Chapter 12 - Step Inside Our Storybook, Imagine What's in Store! Part 2​

Now that I finished up one side of Main Street it was time to swing on over to the other side.

I browsed in Uptown Jewelers for a while and found some new charms to add to the bracelet my mom got me for Christmas. I also found a really cute pair of Mickey earrings in here as well. Once I filled out the form to have my purchases sent back to my resort, I was off to my next land.

So far, I was loving the crowds in the park so far. I didn't really feel like visiting our nation's past and present leaders. No, I was feeling considerably more spooky at the moment.

These were actually two of the things I was looking forward to seeing in Magic Kingdom this trip.

I finally made it to Gracey Manor! I bypassed the graveyard this time and headed straight inside. The stretching room was wonderful as always but I noticed something this time. As I was walking to my Doom Buggy, I took notice of how dark it was in there. Honestly, I was glad for all the railings and such because other wise I may not have been able to see. I don't remember it being quite so dark in there. It was a good thing that the sun had been hiding outside or else I really would have been in trouble.

Hopefully I can come back and visit the manor on my next trip even though I won't have my death certificate with me.

Once I was back outside, I quickly went back inside. This time it was to browse through Memento Mori. The portraits they do there are so cool! Perhaps I'll have to get one done on my next trip.

Frontierland was only a few yards away so I decided to visit while I was in the area. I barely crossed over the border between the lands when what do I see? A couple of chipmunks with a short line. They were so cute dressed up in their cowboy outfits!

Dale was so excited once he spotted my birthday pin!

They were both extremely energetic and were making me laugh the entire time.

I'm not quite sure what made me think of it but I decided to check my FP+ times for the day. It turns out that was a good thing because I was already about 20 minutes into my Mine Train FP+ time.

I made my way over to New Fantasyland while dodging a lot of people who kept stopping at the worst spots. I mean seriously, if you realize your missing someone or your lost, just step to the side of the walkway till you figure out what your next move should be. Trust me it isn't that hard because that's what I do all the time.

Once I got to the ride and scanned my Magic Band, I took my time walking through what little queue there was to walk through. If you hadn't read my PTR or if you haven't taken note of my user icon, you may not know how much I love Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. So despite my roller coaster hesitations, I could not miss out on this ride. I also let a few people go ahead of me so that I could get this picture without any people in it.

There were a couple of guys ahead of me in line and when it was time for the CM to split people up into rows, the guys who seemed to be visiting together were split up. I was then put into the line with one of them. Well all the other guests sort of realized this too. The family of three in the very front of the car suggested that the guys sit together in a row and I would sit with them. Which meant that I would go in the very first car. Of a roller coaster. Which I was somewhat apprehensive to ride. Yep. Lucky for me though, the family could not have been nicer and the dad made me feel even more at ease. Plus he was hilarious. All of the last minute shuffling around didn't give me much time to get settled into my seat though so my legs were awkwardly (and uncomfortably) positioned for the entire ride.

So despite everything, what did I think of the ride? Once I started to relax, it was amazing! I don;t think that I would want to be in the very front again though. The show scenes were super impressive too.

Next up: Plans, what plans?

 

[SarahDisney]

The Welcome Show really is the perfect way to start a day at MK, isn't it? We missed it last trip, but I'm really excited to see it again in a few months!

I love all the pictures from Peter Pan! I still haven't gotten a chance to see the new queue, so all I've seen is pictures, and it looks so amazing!

I'm glad to hear you liked Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! It really is such a fun ride, and the details are amazing!!

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

Nice to see the update. I've been really hesitant to try Mine Train. I have a back that goes out easy so I try to avoid anything I'm afraid might cause me a problem. And I would not do well in that front row either. Pout.
Thanks for sharing your trip.

2 more days and I head on over to the WORLD. DH is there now. Because of work we have overlapping vacation plans.
I'm glad he got to go ahead of me. I'm hoping to hear good reports from him about resort, weather and his first day solo.
LOL Not that long ago he wasn't interested in Disney. I've hooked him in. He is also a DISunplugged fan now too. LOL

 

[hokieinpa]

Happy you made it for the Welcome Show! Love the pictures of the new Peter Pan queue - I'm really excited to see that!

Fun character meet with Merida! She is really great. Were they doing archery lessons? I've heard they do those during the day.

I'm glad you enjoyed the ride on Mine Train! It's quick but so much fun!

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

I just got back last night.
What the heck???? the temps were unbelievable hot. I seriously kept thinking someone played a joke and it must be summer.
BUT my vacation was really nice. I spent time at the pool and loved the quiet. The park crowds were pretty heavy for the most part.
LOL and yes Epcot at night was really busy.

I don't have much for pictures as I was trying to stay in the moment, but my high light was a mistake I made.
It was really hot at MK (which I was able to get to two welcome shows and I loved it) so I wanted to duck into a cool ride.
I thought I got in line for Under the Sea but couldn't figure out what Ariel's Grotto was. The cue got really hot in some spots and I regretted I didn't have water with me at that moment. Well as the cast member let me in, I quickly, with embarrassment realized what I did. I was in line for a picture with Ariel. I think I blushed because of my surprise reaction. Anyway I'm glad I did make the mistake because she had the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in my life!!!! I was mesmerized as she talked to me that I complimented her and she told me I made her day.

DH enjoyed both his solo days and his time together also.
I'm gonna keep saving up those Disney rewards points and see what 2016 brings.
Next year has a couple of non-Disney plans for family visits, but Disney is not off my radar. I'm hoping to take our early 20s adult sons with us.
I want them to experience the magic as adults. It's amazing that even as adults how special a meet and greet can be.

That's it for now. Glad to read others trip fun.

 

[rangerxenos]

Really enjoyed reading your report, I'm headed down to WDW for my first solo trip next month, can't wait!

Question, how do you know which photographers do the magic shots?

 

[Neverland Girl]

Happy you made it for the Welcome Show! Love the pictures of the new Peter Pan queue - I'm really excited to see that!

Fun character meet with Merida! She is really great. Were they doing archery lessons? I've heard they do those during the day.

I'm glad you enjoyed the ride on Mine Train! It's quick but so much fun!

The queue is one of the things I'm really looking forward to sharing with my sister too. If you want to see it though, you'll have to wait in the stand-by line. That's why I rode that first thing in the morning.

Merida's helpers were doing archery lessons but they seemed to only be inviting the younger ones to partake. I didn't mind though.